Richborough

Richborough

Rontec

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Location:

A256 northbound between Sandwich and Ramsgate

Signposted from the road.

Postcode:

CT13 9NL

map and directions

Access/Layout:

Single site located between junctions on one side of the road.

Just beyond the town of Sandwich is an official service area on the A256, where you can indeed eat your sandwiches.

Facilities

Catering: KFC Drive Thru Forecourt: Esso, Shop'N Drive, Costa Express, AdBlue Containers, Car Wash

Parking Prices

Customer car parking is provided. No HGV access is permitted.

This information is provided to us by third parties. You should always check with staff on site.

Contact Details

🏢 Address:
Esso Service Station
Filling Station
Ramsgate Road
Sandwich
Kent
CT13 9NL

🌍 Operators & Official Websites:

• Restaurant operated by KFC
• Forecourt operated by Rontec
  
  
  
  
• 📌 what3words: ///dilute.roaming.sneezing
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Trivia and History

The forecourt with Total branding, pictured in 2011.

There is a forecourt on either side of the dual carriageway, but only the northbound side is signed as an official service area. Otherwise, the southbound side offers equivalent facilities of a Gulf petrol station also known as 'Richborough Service Station', coupled with a Subway restaurant.

This service area was first proposed in 1987, by Kent County Council's Property Supplies & Services Group to rival the already existing southbound forecourt. The proposal was pursued by Heron, who wanted to build a small forecourt with an 80-seat restaurant positioned to the south. The petrol station opened in around 1992 in Elf branding, against the backdrop of the Richborough power station on the premises. This was later absorbed by Total in 2003, then becoming Esso under Rontec's ownership in 2013.

Further plans were put forward to develop the restaurant in 2007. This vision was eventually realised in December 2021 as a drive-thru KFC. Unusually, the entrance was provided directly onto the A256, rather than from within the service area itself but the local authority decided to treat the complex as an official service area nevertheless. It is very unusual for local authorities to designate new service areas with full signage, but Kent does seem to be particularly keen on them.

Road history

For a long time, the A256 was a single carriageway road running through the industrial landscape at Port Richborough as the sole route from Sandwich into Thanet. The road would later be straightened to remove the 'Weatherlees Bend' in the 1980s, leaving the council with some redundant land on the northbound side between the old road and the new. This would offer an unwasted opportunity to build a second roadside facility during a sprawl of new developments to Sandwich in this time.

The area would later undergo drastic changes to the A256 highway and its surroundings in the 21st century. As part of the development of a new bypass to Minster in 2012, the A256 road was widened to double lanes with a second roundabout ahead, segregating both petrol stations either side though they can still be easily accessed by turning around either roundabout. Around the same time, the adjacent power station's unmissable towers and chimney stack formerly dominating the Richborough landscape were demolished for a green energy centre.

Further developments

What is noteworthy to mention that coinciding with the opening of the new KFC, a couple miles further south on the A256 has been a development of even more roadside facilities, more than matching the current offerings here. On Monk's Way on the edge of the Discovery Park and Pfizer's lab centres, Euro Garages have opened up a new Shell forecourt with Starbucks and Leon restaurants, however this is not even signed making the case for Richborough's promotion to a service area quite interesting.

Alternatives

Previous:		Next:
Jubilee (A2 south, 13 miles)	Services on the A256	Minster (A299 west, 4 miles)